Cabinets, tables, mounting stands and other work stations are commonly employed in factory, shop and office environments for supporting and displaying equipment used to perform particular functions. Many of these work stations are constructed to serve a single function. In a number of instances work stations combine two functions, namely, display of certain information and retention of special tools.
Some examples of multi-function work stations and the like are the devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. No(s). 4,640,199, 2,778,704 and 3,715,148. Each of these combines at least two functions, including information display and tool retention. However, each of these has problems and drawbacks for use in certain quality control functions which are required at numerous sites in a manufacturing plant.
The work stations described in these patents share at least two common characteristics. First, they are designed and arranged such that their information display is in only a single medium, e.g., video, printed cards or small legends. Second, each of these stations is designed and arranged to function with only limited types of operating tools and devices.
Stated another way, the design approach used to configure these work stations fails to recognize certain critical demands which the modern quality control function places upon work stations. Modern quality control work stations should be highly flexible in their utility and must permit the use of a variety of different devices and information media.
For example, one such demand arises from the fact that, on a factory floor, there may be many machining or other processing stations, some or all of which are numerically controlled by computers. In more sophisticated systems, these computers are electronically linked to one another by a local area network (LAN). If a problem is detected at so point in the process, it may be resolvable only by the use of statistical process control to develop corrective steps to be taken at one or more, perhaps several, other (usually preceding) points in the process.
Therefore, today's ideal work station for quality control purposes must accommodate certain electronic data collecting devices and have them readily available for the user. Of greatest value to the quality control person are those devices which will permit retrieval, storage, display and modification of computerized data appearing on the LAN.
Another demand arising from the quality control function relates to the fact that today's quality control person, working in a complex environment, must be able to perform inspections in a variety of ways. For example, one inspection mode would be to view data circulating or available on the LAN and representing one or more physical features of a part being manufactured. This data may be electronically collected and displayed. It may then be compared to the optimum or desired data which will often be reflected on printed documents. This need to perform inspection by comparing data embodied in two different media is another of the unusual demands of today's quality control function. A preferred quality control work station must accommodate this demand by making it easy to perform these comparisons in different media.
Yet another significant demand presented by today's quality control function relates to the fact that the work station user must not only be able to detect flaws in the manufacturing process by data comparison as described, but also must be able to create data for later use by himself or others. For example, parts which have passed through several machining steps may be required to be inspected by the work station user. These inspections may be performed using common, visually-read hand tools such as micrometers and gauges or by using more sophisticated tools which are electronically coupled to the LAN.
In the former case, the quality control work station user must be able to quickly record the data, either on paper or by entry into a database embodied in an electronic device. In the latter case, the data may immediately become available on the LAN. However, in both cases, the work station must accommodate storage and display of and quick access to all of the needed tools--electronic devices and the micrometers and gauges linked to them as well as data log paper and blueprints, for example. An ideal work station would be constructed to meet certain diverse yet basic needs and yet be adaptable to meet newly arising quality control requirements.
Still another demand arising from today's quality control environment is the need to quickly relocate a work station from place to place. One quality control inspector can supervise a relatively large manufacturing operation if his quality control work station is equipped to accommodate a number of varying functions and needs, and is quickly relocatable.
The work stations and mounting stands disclosed in the prior art, including the patents mentioned above, have failed to meet all of the requirements of the quality control profession. They may be responsive to some of the requirements, but may be incapable, e.g., of permitting display of or access to data in several different media and of being expanded to meet changing needs.
A quality control work station which lends itself to display of and access to media in several different forms, which integrates a variety of working tools used in performing quality control statistical process control, which permits easy coupling of certain of these tools to a LAN, and which can have additional storage and display capabilities to meet emerging quality control requirements would be an important advance in the art.